How did today's humans develop? It's an old story. So old that it took many thousands of years to be told.

Here's a few details.

Long ago, humans migrated out of Africa. They passed through the Middle East. They were on their way to Europe. Now scientists have found the first fossil remains that appear to document that journey. It's a partial skull from an Israeli cave.

The skull dates from around 55,000 years ago. It fits into the period when scientists had thought the migrants inhabited the area. And details of its anatomy resemble ancient skulls from Europe, Israel Hershkovitz, of Tel Aviv University in Israel, wrote in an email.

He and others present the finding in a paper released by the journal Nature. The skull lacks facial features and its base. It was found in Manot Cave in the Galilee region of northern Israel.

The migrants are called modern humans. That's because of their anatomy or bone structure. The earliest remains of modern humans in Europe date to about 45,000 years ago.

Experts not connected with the work were impressed.

"This is the first evidence we have of the humans who made this journey," apart from some ancient tools, said Eric Delson. He is with Lehman College and the AmericanMuseum of Natural History in New York.

Although finding a fossil that fits so well with what was believed about the ancient migration might be expected, "We didn't have it before," he said.

"We could predict theoretically what we would find. They've found it."

Katerina Harvati of the University of Tuebingin in Germany said the skull gives clues about the anatomy of the migrants. Neanderthals were already known to inhabit the area. The newly found skull also documents that they and modern humans co-existed, as suspected, Harvati said.

That supports the idea that Neanderthals and modern humans interbred there, experts said.

Chris Stringer is with the Natural History Museum in London. He wrote in an email that the skull is the first fossil of a modern human from western Asia that is well-dated to the estimated time of the interbreeding. That was some 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.

Critical thinking challenge: Why were experts not connected with the work impressed?

The reason the experts that were not connected with the work weren't impressed is "Because the first fossil of a modern human from western Asia that is well-dated to the estimated time of the interbreeding. That was some 50,000 to 60,000 years ago."

KadenD-Mau

2/13/2015 - 11:29 a.m.

I wish I could go and see the skull also I wonder who it belongs to and where did the person that owned the skull live